Britain's William Hill warns on profit after slow third quarter

LONDON (Reuters) - British bookmaker William Hill said a poor retail performance in its third quarter meant operating profit had fallen 20 million pounds ($32.5 million) below expectations, warning that shortfall may not be recovered by the year end.

Quiet trading in July helped push retail net revenue in the 13 week period to Oct 1 down 4 percent on an underlying basis, the firm said on Thursday, with gross margin wins falling 0.8 percentage points as football results went the way of customers.

Overall underlying group revenue increased 4 percent in the third quarter, but operating profit fell 31 percent, or by 24 million pounds.